This is the first time in three decades that rail procurement has been opened for the private sector.
The Indian Railways' global tender worth Rs 2,500 crore for the supply of long rails will open today, sources in the ministry said.
The railways had to invite the global tender for procuring around 4.87 lakh metric tonnes of rails to meet the shortfall of supply from the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
The financial bids for the rails will be opened at 3 pm, the sources said.
Seven foreign steel companies and the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) have bid for the contract.
This is the first time in three decades that rail procurement has been opened for the private sector.
JSPL, the only Indian steel maker in the fray, is expected to get an assured order of 20 per cent under the 'Make in India' clause.
The foreign entities are Sumitomo Corporation, Angang Group International, Voestalpine Schienen, East Metals, CRM Hong Kong, British Steel France Rail and Atlantic Steel.
JSPL has been invited by the railways to be present at the opening of the financial bids this afternoon.
"We have been invited by the Railway Ministry for the purpose," a company official confirmed.
Till now, the national transporter was procuring rails from government-owned SAIL. It decided on an extra global tender after anticipating that SAIL would not be able to supply the 7,17,000 tonnes required for 2017-18 and 2018-19, as estimated at that time.
The railways is looking at 4,000 km of track renewal in each of the next two financial years --2018-19 and 2019-20. Its estimated cost for 2018-19 is a little above Rs 10,000 crore.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)